Texas lawmakers want Obama to press Mexico on water pact

A group of Texas lawmakers asked President Barack Obama to force Mexico to comply with the treaty requiring the sharing of water with U.S. border communities, The Brownsville Herald reported Monday.

According to the 1944 treaty governing water usage in the border zone, according to an alterating fiveyear cycle the United States must supply Mexico with 350,000 acrefeet of water annually from the Colorado River while Mexico must then reciprocate with water from the Rio Grande.

The current cycle, in which Mexico is supplying the water, began in October 2010 but that country owes the United States some 380,000 acrefeet, more than a year’s worth.

For that reason, and also due to the severe drought plaguing South Texas, the lawmakers have sent a letter Obama in which they request his intervention to guarantee the flow of water from the neighboring country.

The bipartisan letter was sent last Wednesday by Republican Sen. John Cornyn and Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela, although 35 of the 38 legislators who represent the Lone Star State in Washington also signed it.

In the text, the lawmakers ask Obama to secure a direct commitment by the Mexican government of Enrique Peña Nieto to deliver water, given that negotiations within the International Boundary and Water Commission, the bilateral organization tasked with ensuring compliance with the treaty, have not borne fruit.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry had asked Obama in 2013 to reach a watersharing agreement with Mexico, but since then the situation has worsened.

The drought in Texas, considered to be one of the worst in the past five centuries, has forced hundreds of municipalities to implement restrictions on water use, a move that affects both residential and agricultural users.